~“Prince Phiro? Where are the rest of your guard?” King Volco - TopicsExpress

~“Prince Phiro? Where are the rest of your guard?” King Volco asked, getting to his feet. The man lowered his head, his eyes darkening a bit. ~“Killed in battle with a group of thieves not too far from Rue’s border.” Prince Phiro said softly. I couldn’t help narrowing my eyes a bit at that. While thieves on our borders wasn’t unheard of, there was no group that resided there large enough, or even crazy enough to go after a prince’s caravan. And if this really was a meeting of formalities, shouldn’t there be another member of the royal court as well? ~“Was there any other casualty aside from the guards, Prince Phiro?” I turned my head slightly to see the Royal Advisor leaning forward slightly as he bowed his head. I bit back a growl as my wolf form threatened to break free. Something was definitely wrong here, Jiro only leaned forward when one of his few plans were being discussed. ~“The king lost his life as well on the way here. Sickness had been spreading across our kingdom and sadly, he wasn’t completely well when this trip began.” Prince Phiro paused a moment as silence fell around us. ~It was no secret that the kingdom of Kai was in a state of recovery from a massive outbreak of disease, the fact that the king had supposedly fought it off months ago didn’t really add up. Then again, I closed my eyes for a moment, admitting weakness like that is never good for any kingdom. I brushed that fact aside for now as I lowered my own head. ~“I’m sure your reign will be a strong one. Kai needs an able leader, Prince Phiro, after such unfortunate events.” I said, realizing it was my turn to speak. Looking back up at him, I descended the steps to circle around him. My wolf form, growing excited, flickered to the surface a bit. I could see through the silver armor the prince had on that my eyes had turned onyx black, but I was too focused on the dark energy I could still feel pouring off the prince in waves to really do anything about it. ~“However, I am quite curious. What color were the thieves that attacked you wearing?” From this close, I saw the prince tense before he forced himself to relax. ~“I believe you are speaking out of line, strategist.” Prince Phiro said tightly. ~“You say that you were attacked on our border. Such events need to be seen to.” I said, turning to face him directly. I caught the flicker of anger in his eyes as I met his gaze directly. True, I was acting a bit out of line, but there was something about this whole situation that had me on edge. ~“Xeros, you can ask your questions later. We have a meeting to conduct.” King Volco said sternly. Closing my eyes and lowering my head a bit, I backed away from the Prince of Kai and went to stand back by Queen Felisha’s side. I could have sworn that the prince smirked a bit at me, but the meeting was called to order before I could think on it.